Phoenix death
by Rishqva
Summary: Ed is dead, or is he? The Elrics are back in Amestris, but things are never easy for them. After an accident the roles are reversed and Ed has even less left than Al had, or maybe not? A phoenix death are just the beginning after all. Spirit!Ed After CoS


**Spoilers:** Maybe from all of the old anime + the movie and some details from the manga, but no big spoilers from the later, I think.

This fic takes place after the movie and the Elrics has been back in Amestris for about two years. (I may write an other fic that explains how that happened, but for now I will use hints and flashbacks to fill the gaps) This is slightly AU since I have changed some details: Izumi Curtis is still alive (because she is a cool character and it was completely unnecessary to kill her of like they did in the movie) Alphonse studied some of the alchemy from Xing during the years he was searching for Ed (together with Izumi since she obviously may have got an interest for heeling alchemy as a way to cure her 'illness').

Oh, and I call the Xingenese alchemy 'Cinnobri' (which is how the Swedish manga-team choose to translate the term) since 'Akestry' or whatever is a ridiculous translation (sounds like something a three-year-old would say) and I didn't want to use the Japanese word.

If Al appears to be little OOC it's because he sort of has lost his footing in life, he doesn't know what to do with himself right now.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own FMA, obviously.

English is not my first language and I doesn't have a beta reader. All corrections are welcome.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**Phoenix death**

Soft whispers of wind in the trees and low splashes from the lake around the island gave the silent night form. The orange light of a camp-fire danced over the trees surrounding the clearing and illuminated the young man lying next to it. Alphonse gazed up at the brilliant night sky above. The night was clear and he could even discern the colours of different stars. _All is one and one is all..._ Yes, that was true. While he looked in to the endless depths between the stars he felt that it was true, he felt connected to everything and for the first time in over a month his heart wasn't an aching lump of tearing grief. He felt sad, yes, very sad but in this magic night it was as if the world held its breath, time had stopped and eternity was in his grasp.

_Brother is out there somewhere. He has to be_, Al thought without any doubt in his mind. Ed's soul couldn't just have disappeared. Because if it was one thing they had learned it was that nothing ever disappeared, it just changed. The flow of the world made everything move in circles, mater, energy, life and probably even souls. They had to, right? Alphonse knew for a fact that souls existed and thus they had to be a part of the flow.

Al let out a deep sight and turned to look at the glowing embers of his fading fire. _All is one and one is all._ It was strange but tonight was the first time he felt like he really grasped the concept. Really understood what his brother apparently already had grasped back then when they first had been stranded on this very island. The thing his brother had understood but choose to ignore when they made their fatal mistake. Yes, their fatal mistake, a mistake that had govern their lives for so long, but even that had finally changed.

With a soft smile he held up his hands, his hands of flesh and blood, and turned them to feel the heat from the fire grace one side while the other met the cool night air. He would never get tired of the feeling, of the pure joy of being able to taste, smell and _feel_ the world again. It was his brothers greatest gift to him, even if Ed always denied that it was a gift. He had stubbornly declared that he had paid a debt, corrected an error, nothing more, and Al had stopped arguing long ago. Brother was so stubborn.

_Stubborn..._ Al's smile faded when the memories that single word brought back to him flashed through his mind. If it was one thing that had characterised his brother more than anything it was his stubbornness. Sometimes it had driven Al crazy, but Ed wouldn't have been Ed without it. Yes, Ed had been stubborn, stubborn enough to try to go against the flow of the world, stubborn enough to stand up and walk forward no matter how many times the world tried to grind him down, stubborn enough to succeed with the impossible, stubborn enough to plain out refuse to die. Or so they had thought, but that last statement had been proven wrong.

The Fullmetal alchemist had appeared unstoppable, neither humans nor homunculi had been able to take him down. He had survived the horrors of two worlds, but no one could argue with the force of nature. Hundreds of tons of tumbling earth, stone and water was simply too much to handle even for him.

Alphonse closed his eyes, the memories of that day was painfully sharp.

_He and his brother had been on their way home from a diplomatic mission in Aerugo when the earthquake struck. The border mountains was of a volcanic origin and earthquakes was far from unusual, but this quake had been the strongest in a hundred years. Neither he or Ed had been harmed in the quake since they had been on the road just outside Cartha, Aerugo's northernmost city, but in the city the destruction had been devastating. They had immediately turned back and helped with the rescue work. _

_For three days they worked day and night, used their alchemy to dig out survivors and stabilise buildings on the verge of collapse. It had been dreadful but yet satisfying. For once they was able to help people, save lives plain and simple without any complications. No mysteries, no fights, no diplomacy, just hard work._

_Then the rain had come, and lots of it. The earthquake had left the mountainsides unstable and when the rain soaked the old layers of volcanic ash mudslides was inevitable. Two hundred years ago a mudslide had wiped out the old Cartha and when rumour got out that a new one could start at any moment the whole city panicked. Except the Elric brothers. They were close to the mountains when the rain started to fall, and they knew that it was to late to run. Instead they did the only thing they could. The brothers scrambled up along the mountain, as high as possible and then preformed the biggest transmutation they had ever tried. Together they created a solid stone wall, like an inverted V along the mountainside, sturdy enough to divert the mudslide away from the city when the ash layer finally gave in. _

_The wall had fulfilled its purpose and Al watched with dreadful ave as the wave of destruction slammed in to the wall and then splinted to flow down on each side of the city._

_Then disaster struck. _

_To preform the transmutation they had ended up a fair distance away from each other and when Al heard a surprised curse from his brother he couldn't do anything but watch. Watch as the ground gave away under Ed. The earth below the wall was just as unstable as above and the vibrations from the big slide triggered a smaller slide below. It was nowhere close to as powerful as the big slide, but it still held an enormous force. _

_Ed ran over the mowing ground, jumped over growing cracks, clapped his hands and began to transmute the flowing earth to solid flakes he could run on top of when a bouncing boulder hit him. Hit him, knocked him down and crushed his automail arm to pieces. In that instant Al knew it was over. He still ran towards the speeding wave of earth while screaming his brothers name. Watched as Ed slide down towards the valley and disappeared behind tumbling stones, but his heart was could. It had frozen to ice the very moment Al realised that it was nothing either of them could do. _

With a sniffle Al turned to his side and let the fire dry his tears, he couldn't stop them from running every time he remembered that last moment but he didn't plan to start crying again. He had done that enough this last month. He didn't want to destroy this tranquil night when his heart appeared to have found a moment of peace. Instead he stared at the dancing flames and let them hypnotise him. In an endless moment he didn't think about anything at all, but then something in the fire caught his attention.

The flames acted strange. Al frowned lightly and watched. It was hard to tell, but every now and then the fire flicked and the flames changed unnatural. It was as if they was disturbed by some invisible object. Al didn't move. His mind was playing tricks on him, he was half asleep and had probably shifted in to a dream without noticing. It was a strange dream, everything was so real, except that subtle change in the fire. But then again, dreams was supposed to be strange and it was sort of a nice dream. Alphonse kept watching the fire.

The flickering flames continued to take on unnatural shapes. For a moment they appeared to outline a solid object, then it was gone. Back and fort, the fire swirled and held this shape a little longer every time. Alphonse watched in silence. It did look like someone was standing in the fire, a figure shaped of fire, but the flames only reached just above the hips. From time to time a flame reached further up and outlined the upper body to, but the glowing gases cooled and could not be seen.

This was a strange dream, but Al smiled anyway. Was it supposed to be a fire spirit? It was an impressive apparition but the effect was kind of spoiled by the fact that he could see only half the body. The spirit didn't appear to be very good at this, an amateur fire spirit? Al giggled at that last thought, he felt kind of light headed but then again, this was just a dream.

The apparition jumped at the sound of his giggles, and then it began pacing around in the fireplace. It appeared to be waving its arms in an exited way but it was hard to tell since only some stray flames reached that high. Al pulled himself up until he sat cross-legged in front of the fire. The fire figure froze, but when Al continued to watch in silence it stepped over to the rind of the fireplace, as close to Al as possible. Then it began to act exited again and Al giggled even more. It did look ridiculous with just a pair of legs that walked around.

"What are you so exited about? And why can I only see your legs? It do look a bit ridiculous you know", Al said and tilted his head, it was a dream after all and he was curious about what his mind would come up with after this.

The fire figure stopped dead in its tracks and Al could swear that it smacked its head. Then the figure knelt down and suddenly all of it got in sight. Al studied the figure. This fire spirit reminded him of his brother. Actually, when he had had a closer look and got used to the fire, it did look _exactly_ like Ed. Al couldn't stop a real giggle fit at the thought. Ed, mister there-are-no-such-things-as-ghosts himself, as a _fire spirit_ of al things. This dream was so much fun.

The fire-Ed scowled at his brother but soon shook his head and began to point at something beside the fire. Al looked but couldn't find something special in that direction.

"Uh? What's over there?", Al asked. The fire-Ed pointed even more urgently and reached outside the fireplace, which made his arms disappear. Apparently it annoyed the fire-Ed to no end that he couldn't leave the fire and he scowled even more.

"You want something?", Al said and tried to understand what the figure was pointing at. It was difficult since the fire was fading and the flames got smaller, making the figure flicker and disappear more often. Fire-Ed waved madly and seemed _extremely_ frustrated. Al let out a almost hysteric giggle, that mad face was _so_ like his brother.

-Al! _Dammit!_ Get the firewood and stop _giggling_!- Ed's angry voice snapped Al out of his giggle fit and he stared at the fire-Ed that now got a quite smug face, then Al dropped down on his back and howled with laughter. This was just to much. This dream was _crazy_. Al caught a glimpse of fire-Eds perplex expression and laughed even more.

-_Al!_-

"Yes brother. The firewood", Al managed to get the words out between his his breaths. Still laughing he got to his feet and walked over to the big pile of firewood he had collected earlier. There was enough wood for three or four nights but Al grabbed almost half of it and threw it on his fire. The flames shot up and soon the fire-Ed could stand up straight and still be completely visible.

-Thanks Al, it is _really_ difficult to keep this shape if I haven't enough material to work with.-

"It is? What kind of material?", Al asked and took a closer look at the fire-Ed. The resemblance was unnerving. New stronger flames kept the figure from flickering and the outlines had gotten sharper to. This fire creature had pinned down Ed's looks right down to the details of the eyelashes.

-The fire. I'm shaping the glowing gases in the flames to mimic my body so that you are able to see me. It took me _ages_ to figure out how to do it.-

"So the fire isn't your body then?"

-What? Of course not, I just let it take my shape.-

"You are a quite strange fire spirit brother", Al laughed.

-Fire spirit? Al, what the hell are you talking about. You know that there is no such things as fire spirits.-

No such ting? _Of course_, even as a ghost Ed didn't believe in ghosts, how could he have imagined anything else. Al shook his head and laughed, _no such thing._ It was hilarious, really hilarious, and Al laughed until he couldn't keep upright any more.

-Al?-, Eds voice was soft and full of concern when he looked down at his laughing brother. That laugh sounded just a bit to hysteric, almost a bit mad.

"Don't worry brother", Al smiled up at him, "It's just this dream, it's so crazy, and strange, and real, and unlikely. I mean, brother would probably turn in his grave if he knew that I imagined him as a _fire spirit_", the last sentence disappeared in new giggles.

-Oh, a dream...-, Ed got a thoughtful look, but then he smiled, a smile that slowly became a grin, -A fire spirit u-hu? I should give you for _fire spirits_. You're lucky I'm not in a more solid shape at the moment, otherwise I would have dragged your giggling ass down to the lake and dipped you until that overheated imagination of yours had cooled down a bit!-

"You wouldn't!", Al protested.

-Yes I would!-, Ed grinned back.

"No way!"

-Try me!-

"Hu! You're just as annoying as always brother, even in my dreams you has to get the last word", Al tried to sound annoyed but his big grin gave him away. How he missed this friendly bickering. Ed on the other hand got a more serious expression.

-Al, this isn't a dream. I'm really here and I'm really talking to you, but I guess that it is easier for you to think of this as a dream until I have got a chance to explain everything.-, Ed's voice was soft but distinct and Al's smile disappeared.

"Brother, I know this is a dream, because I know you're dead", the soft bronze eyes was filled with sadness and he gave Ed's fire image a longing look, "This is just one of my dreams. I know that Teacher and Winry are worried about me, they think I have gone a bit crazy, and I guess they are right since I speak with you like this, but I still know what's real and what isn't."

-Al I understand, I really do, but I'm not dead, I didn't really die that day.-

"Brother! I dug up your body!", Al protested violently, "I... I had to. They told me that it was to late, and I knew that, but I still had to do it!", the calm façade Al had kept until that moment disappeared and grief filled his eyes. The pain was still so fresh and bitter tears fell while he continued, "I told them that you had been left for dead so many times before, reminded them that you had been gone for three years once and then came back. Ed, I even saw you die once. That's why I had to find your body. I had to make sure, had to make sure that you hadn't ended up in some sheltered crack, or been buried just below the surface or fallen in to that cursed _Gate_ again. I had to make sure that it was nothing I could have done. And they understood, they actually did. I had to find your body, otherwise I would always had wondered, had wondered if you really was dead", Al remembered that desperate search in blindingly sharp detail. He could still feel the mud that had cowered his whole body. He remembered the worried faces in a blur, he hadn't been the only one to cry that day, and he remembered the could, the could that had newer left him completely since that day.

"It took me a long time to find you, it was so much mud, but I did find you. And then I just went could, I couldn't feel anything. I thought that I should try to bring you back, like I did last time. But I knew it was to late. Last time I had a stone, and I did it at once, but this time I had waited to long. Your soul should have moved on, even with a stone I wouldn't have been able to call back your soul. I... I would have ended up with nothing more than a homunculus..." The pain in Al's voice was more than Ed could stand.

-Al, I'm glad that you didn't try-, Ed answered sincerely and tried to reach out and touch Al, but outside the fire he was invisible, -So glad you didn't do the same mistake as me...-, Ed whispered.

"Are you? Are you really happy with this?", Al's voice was no more than a whisper and he leaned forward, so close that the fire almost burned him, "I know it was the right thing, I know! But I still feel like I have let you down."

-You have never let my down Al, _never_. Not now, not back then, and not in the future. And you are right, you know it wouldn't have worked, you _would_ have ended up with a homunculus and I can't think of anything worse. Dying isn't that bad, it hurt like a bitch but the soul is unaffected. But knowing that one of those soulless _things_ was walking around with my face, talking with my voice, pretending to be _me_, _that_ would be hell.- Ed looked at his brother in silence and despite the fact that he was nothing more than a fire image his eyes still had that piercing glare that only he could master. -So promise me Al, promise that you _never_ try to bring me back like that. If I can't hold on to this strange life I have right now and really die, promise me that there will _never_ be a homunculus with my face. _Promise me!_-

"Brother...", Al was taken back by the intensity in Ed's voice, but then he gave a slow nod, "I promise", and they bout knew that that was a promise Al would never break.

-Good-, Ed's reply was short, but nothing more was necessary. There was a long silence and the calming sounds of the night surrounded them. It was a serene yet strange scene. A teenage boy cross-legged in front of a blazing fire, talking to his brothers image shaped of flames, while the stars slowly turned above them.

Ed shook his head and snapped out of the trance. He sat down, cross-legged like a mirror image of his brother.

-Lets talk about something less morbid now, shall we? After all, I have to explain how I cheated death once more-, he said and smiled at a private joke.

"But you are dead", Al pointed out, his voice a strange mixture of pain and the calm patience he always used when his brother was unusually stubborn.

-I'm not-, Ed replied with a sigh, -I'm no more dead than you was when you were bound to that armour.-

"No! I'm not going to trick myself", Al countered and stared at the ground, "I saw your body. It was dead. Broken and crushed and _dead!_"

-Yes, that's right. My _body_ is dead-, Ed explained with unusual patience, -But my soul is alive. Look, I still got chi. You should be able to feel it if you just try.-

"But that's impossible. Dead souls doesn't just stay in this world. Dead souls doesn't have chi."

-Don't make me quote Greed and say that it is _impossible_ that is impossible Al. I told you, my soul isn't dead and that's why I have chi-, Ed said and when Al looked like he was about to protest he quickly continued, -Don't argue Al, just close your eyes and feel the chi around you.-

Al opened his mouth like he was going to argue anyway, but then he sighed and kept quiet. He closed his eyes and concentrated on that sixth sense that he first had discovered when he studied cinnobri from Xing in search of a way to find his brother. Back then the sense had been nothing more than a vague feeling, but when he got his memories back in that other world he had taught his brother and together they had fine tuned the sensation. It had nothing to do with alchemy, although it was necessary to have the ability to feel chi to learn cinnobri, and thus it did work in that alchemy less world to.

It took longer than it ever had since he first had mastered the technique, but finally Al began to feel how the chi around him outlined the world. Small amounts of chi filled the air and earth but deeper down lines of chi flowed trough the ground, dragon lines according to the cinnobri. The trees and everything else that was alive had higher amounts of chi and stood out from the background as if they were gloving but Al ignored this. Because in front of him there was a stronger chi, the chi of a human. Al opened his eyes. There were the fire image of his brother. He closed them again and cold still feel the chi. It was the chi of a living human, a young healthy strong human. It was Ed's chi. Al let out a strange gasp, almost a sob, and stared at the familiar face. That _was_ his brother.

-You feel it?-, Ed asked but Al could only answer with a slow nod. The chi in front of him, Al knew it wasn't from the fire, fire had no more chi then air or stone or other dead materials. The chi in front of him had to come from something that was alive. It was a strong and healthy chi, in fact, it was a very strong chi. Ed had always had an unusually strong chi, just like Al, but this was more than that. Al was surprised that he hadn't felt the presence of this chi before Ed told him to search for it. But when he thought about it it made sense. You had to have a certain amount of balance in your soul to be able to feel chi, and Al had been anything but balanced since Ed's death.

"Yes, I feel it...", Al said so softly that it wasn't more then a whisper, like he was afraid that it would disappear if he gave voice to his hope. Ed's fire image smiled and walked out of the fire. And disappeared.

Al blinked, the fire was empty. He blinked again, but Ed was still gone. _No_, Al thought and the ice cut his heart with freezing stinging pain, _not again..._

"Brother!", _no_, he couldn't take this again, "_Brother_", Al begged, _is it just a dream, a nightmare?_ If it was it were the cruellest nightmare he had ever had. Al tried to think, tried to reason _it's just a nightmare_ but couldn't keep it back any more. He cried, bitter tears and painful sobs while he curled up on the ground. _Is this how things will be? Am I going to live the rest of my life like this? Finding new hope just when I had accepted the truth, and then have the hope crushed once more?_ Al couldn't stand it, why couldn't he just accept the truth? Why did he still feel his brothers presence by his side when there newer was anyone there?

-Al! _Shus_, calm down. I'm right here-, Ed's panicked voice came out of nowhere, -I'm sorry, _I'm sorry_, I just left the fire-, Ed tried to calm his shaking brother, -I should have warned you, sorry, I thought you could feel my chi- Ed could have kicked himself. _Idiot!_ he thought, _stupid short-sighted idiot!_ Al was on the verge of collapse. _Of course he is. He has been crying his heart out for over a month, this was the first night he showed any sign that he was ready to move on, and then I speak with him, give him hope, and the next moment I disappear! I'm such an idiot!_

"_Brother?_", Al asked with a very small voice, he sounded like a child. The curled up form stilled, no more sobs disturbed the night but he didn't dry his tears either.

-Yes I'm here. I won't leave you, I _can't_ leave you-, Ed answered and wished that he could take his brother in his arms and soothe him, -I have been right by your side all this time, I did never leave you, but I couldn't speak to you until now-

"You were?" The worlds came with an hesitant edge, not daring to believe him just yet.

-Yes I was-, there was nothing but truth in Ed's words and Al's tens shoulders relaxed, but nothing more was said. The silence was endless, until Al took a shaky breath.

"Thank you", Al whispered with a small smile even though silent tears still fell.

-I'm the one that should thank you. It's because of you I'm still alive-, Ed said. Al got a questioning expression and turned to ask Ed something, but then he realised that he still couldn't see Ed anywhere.

"Were are you?"

-Here-, Ed said, which wasn't much of a help, -Search for my chi-, he suggested.

"Of course...", Al muttered and closed his eyes again. This time it didn't take long before he felt Ed's chi. He sat right next to him. Al turned his head and looked at the spot where he could feel his brothers presence, it was empty. He closed his eyes and felt him. Al frowned, this was confusing. His sense for chi told him that his brother was there, but his eyes saw nothing. "This is confusing", he pointed out.

-Yea, I guess so-, Ed laughed and after a moment of hesitation he reached out with his hand. Al could feel it, he felt the human shaped chi reach out and touch his shoulder. It was a strange sensation, he didn't really feel any movement or weight or _anything_ like a normal touch, just a sudden warmth. Ed's hand passed right trough his shoulder and Al flinched.

-Did I hurt you?-, Ed immediately asked and took back his hand.

"No...", Al said after a thoughtful silence, "No, it didn't hurt, it just surprised me."

-But you did feel it?-

"Yes, definitely.", Al's answer held no doubt, "It wasn't unpleasant or something, just... strange. It kind of tingled and felt warm, but strange."

-I suppose that is what one should expect. I'm nothing but a soul in a 'body' of pure chi energy-, Ed said and reached out again, slowly, but when Al didn't move he carefully tried to rub Al's upper arm. It didn't work that well since he couldn't put any pressure against the skin and ended up patting _trough_ Al's arm half the time, but that didn't mater. Al smiled and closed his eyes since they still told him there there was no one there. Ed moved closer and switched to stroke Al's back, like he was patting a kitten, and he could see how the tension melted away. Ed smiled.

"Now I remember", Al mumbled.

-Remember what?-, Ed said and kept moving his hands up and down Al's spine. He had waited so long for this. The last few weeks had been torture when he could do nothing but watch Al's grief. Unable to touch his little brother, unable to speak to him, unable to make his presence noticed. This ghost of a touch was so much better.

"Remembered where I did recognise this feeling from", Al said and leaned back until he almost fell over, but straightened up when he realised that Ed couldn't provide any support, "When I was in the armour", he began, "Do you remember that time in Selbrug, when they hunted us out of the village since they thought it was _our_ fault that their cattle died?"

-Yea, I remember-, Ed snorted, -It was those crackpot rebels that had poisoned the water since the farmers sold their meet to the army. Same story as usual, the army was shit, the rebels just as bad, and normal people got hurt in the crossfire. It was pure luck that the people took all their water from other places than the water they gave the animals-, Ed's cynicism could barely mask the sadness he truly felt, they had encountered way to many situations like that during their travels, -Oh, and normal people vented their anger at hard working alchemists who came to the village, told them that it was the water that was poisoned and _detoxified_ the water with alchemy-, now the cynicism was clearly notable, -Ungrateful idiots-, he grumbled.

"Yes, it wasn't fair", Al agreed, "But they didn't know any better, and the _point_ is that they were very persistent."

-You bet they were. I don't think people kept hunting us for that long _any_ other time.-

"Exactly, and you soon got tired."

-Of course I got tired! I had used alchemy to clean a whole frigging _lake_! And then been forced to do hours of cross-country running, not that I was very well rested when we _got_ to the damn village in the first place...-

"And since neither of us wanted to get in a fight with farmers I ended up carrying you for the rest of the night", Al interrupted Ed's angry rant, "but it was rather rough terrain and I needed bout hands free so I did put you inside my armour, if you remember?"

-Yea, I remember-, Ed said in a much calmer voice. During all the years Al had spent as a soul in an armour he had carried Ed inside only a handful of times, but the memories of the times he _had_ always gave Ed some very mixed feelings. It was nice, since it did show how much Al cared for him, but a bit awkward, since he had been _inside_ something that sort of was Al's body, and it always made him sad, since it reminded him about how much Al truly had lost.

"Mmm, and at that time you asked me how it felt when I had you inside the armour", Al said, "and I told you that it was a bit strange but actually sort of nice when I got used to it. The thing is, I shouldn't have been able to _feel_ anything, but I did. I didn't feel your touch, or your weight, or your body temperature but I did feel _something_. It was just a sort of warmth and then a tingling sensation when you moved around. Just like what I feel now."

Ed stopped his petting for a while. That was an interesting statement. He immediately began to theorize why that had happened but Al beat him to it.

"Back then neither of us could feel chi, at least not consciously, but I think that all humans have a basic awareness of chi and that feeling I got was from your chi", Al explained, "I think that it wasn't just my soul that was inside that armour, I think my chi was inside it too."

-Yes, that makes sense-, Ed said, -and that explains how you could force so many expressions out of a body that didn't have a proper _face_, your chi body radiated your feelings.-

"Mmm", Al agreed.

-But if we agree about that it makes it so much easier to explain my situation right now-, Ed said and Al stiffened. _Dammit_, Al thought, he had been so happy to be able to just talk to his brother that he almost forgot his most urgent question.

"Yes, I think it is time for you to explain that little detail to me Brother"

-It's easy-, Ed said, -I'm the same as you were back then, just minus the armour.-

"But wait", Al said and frowned, "You are trying to tell me that you have your soul and your chi, but nothing more?"

-Yes, soul, chi and my memories... and my wonderful personality-, Ed immediately continued.

"Gaah! Ed, stop joking! This is serious", Al shouted with clear annoyance.

-Sorry Al, I may be a little giddy right now-, Ed snickered, -It's so nice to be _talking_ to you again-, he thought for a moment, -talking to _anyone_ actually. You have no idea how frustrating it is to be an invisible spirit.-

"Well, tell me about it then", Al said, "_Are_ you an invisible spirit? How would that be possible? Why doesn't your soul leave this world?"

-OK, here we go-, Ed said and composed himself, -Remember the blood seal in your armour? It's still active, and it's much stronger then we thought-, Al gave him a confused look, or tried, his eyes still couldn't see anything.

-Look-, Ed continued, -The blood seal bound you to that armour, but it was my blood that bound you to this world. It was my living blood that kept your soul alive. Your life wasn't bound to the armour, it was bound to _me_-, Ed stressed that last word, -and now that blood seal, or rather, that _soul bond,_ works the other way around.-

"So you are telling me...", Al slowly began, "that now _you_ are bound to _me_?"

-That's exactly what I'm telling you. This time _your_ blood are keeping _me_ alive-, Ed said with a strange smile, -Equivalent Exchange, dear brother. Ain't it ironic?-

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**AN:** Gah! That was a long chapter. Please review and tell me if you think this story is worth continuing with.

Next chapter will explain Ed's situation further, (you may have noticed that I gave Ed's voice a different signature using - - instead of "", that's because he doesn't speak with an actual _voice_ right now) and include a bit more action.

Sadly, I'm a bit struck in the long term plot for the story right now, but I have some ideas for future chapters (they just have to be organised to an actual _plot_). There are so much fun you can do with spirit!Ed before he gets his body back. I'm so tempted to let him "haunt" Mustangs office for a while *evil plotting at work*

Do you believe me if I tell you that this started out as a writing exercise and an excuse to write some Ed-Al interaction?


End file.
